In All but Blood: Evolution
by Forever Free Evergreen
Summary: Summer ending, school year starting, new students arriving, powers evolving, relationships blooming. Just another year for the residents of Xavier's school for gifted children. R&R
1. Look Back Think Ahead

**Disclaimer & Note:**This is my third year doing this & I reckon this is the best way to celebrate it.

_After nearly a whole year, the wait is almost over. I was thinking of making a teaser of this chapter, but figured you've been waiting long enough. If you still __remember me that is._

_I do not own X-men Evolution just the original characters I'm throwing in & the words below._

***#***

_He had no way of knowing how far he had run nor how long. The ink black veil that surrounded him was so dark and vast it was if he was in another place, if not world, all together. Chancing a quick glance behind him, he barely had time to gasp when the outline of a person with piercing red eyes charged at him grinning in an almost maniacal way._

'_**You... Are... Mine!'**_

Abruptly, Stefan sat up gasping as if he had just ran a marathon before clutching his eyes as the now familiar stinging sensation made its presence known.

It had been over a month since the events up in the Arctic Circle yet still his eyes would sting every morning as if the explosion had just occurred. As if that was not enough, he was now being plagued by nightmares the left him in a cold sweat for the past ten days.

All in all, it was amazing he was not going insane given how he was in a school for youngsters, like himself. To the rest of the world, he was in Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Children but in reality they were mutants, people with abilities only seen in films and comic books. According to the Professor, they were something along the lines of the vanguard of the next step in human evolution.

Stefan had been blessed, as his grandmother once said, with two abilities. One was the power to distort and rearrange energy vectors and attacks via hand contact which made it more of a defensive power than anything else. The second was an ability that had been known since medieval times known as the evil eye. When active, it allowed Stefan to use other mutants' powers for fifteen minutes, or less if using more than one power at once, for up to three times in twenty four hours.

Feeling the irritation subside, Stefan forced himself to get out of bed and get ready for the day ahead. Even on a Saturday, Logan wanted to make sure they had at least one hour in the DR before the day was through.

_**-*#*-**_

In the room across the hall, Kurt reluctantly opened his eyes as his alarm clock informed him it was eight o'clock with its shrill beeping and immediately noticed he was not alone. He was not at all surprised to find the petite brunette in his bed and arms but was still unable to fathom the _why_ behind it all.

Before he came to the institute, Kurt had lived his life with his adoptive parents in a Romani travelling circus in Germany. Raising him as one of their own, despite looking like a blue furred devil, the Wagners looked after Kurt and introduced him to the life of the circus the moment they saw how well he kept up with Stefan one day when they were playing tag through the trees in the forest the troupe was camping by one time.

Under the alias _Nightcrawler the amazing acrobatic demon_, Kurt became the main attraction drawing people in from towns and cities next door to the place they were currently located. Despite his love for the circus and his family, who considered him a member in all but blood, Kurt longed for a life of normalcy like those who came to see him. He had actually been a normal person once with ten fingers and toes, no tail and no fur until he was used in an experiment by another mutant wanting to bring out the full potential of his kind when he was still a baby. It was because of this person that he was separated from his real mother and in the loving care of the Wagners.

It was not even six months ago that he then found himself going from almost facing the fires of hell to being invited to America along with his brother who actually had powers himself, much to Kurt's joy, and was given the chance to experience the life of a normal teen. Along with making new friends, homework, school tests and working as part of a group that helped those like himself, Kurt found himself falling in love with the very mutant who was currently using him as her pillow.

He had first met Kitty when Professor Xavier took him on a trip to the girl's home town when her powers first awakened. After comforting her when she fell through the floor in a state of panic, the two became firm friends and were rarely seen separate from each other whenever they were not at school. As time went on, the two's feelings for each other evolved beyond that of friendship.

There would have been a time when Kurt would have enjoyed the current closeness between them had Magneto not decided to come back into his life. As well as being the man responsible for ruining all Kurt's chances for a normal childhood, Magneto was, on all accounts, Charles Xavier's old friend turned nemesis and believed that their kind should introduce themselves to the world via forceful methods: more commonly known as world domination.

He once tried to convert Stefan only for that to backfire as Stefan showed the metal manipulator why he was known as the copy mutant as he used every power in his arsenal to beat him to almost an inch of his life. Had it not been for the rest of the X-men stepping in, Stefan might, and would, have killed him in his rage.

In a way of revenge, Magneto then tried to use him the same time he had also managed to take Scott and his younger brother Alex. Gifted with the silver tongue as Kurt heard some Americans say, Magneto tricked him into believing that everyone actually feared him using his fears to turn him into a deadly enemy. The plot almost succeeded had Kurt's feelings for Kitty overcame his anger when they came face to face as well inducing their first kiss.

However, despite everyone forgiving him, or in Logan's case giving the elf two weeks DR clean up duty, Kurt could not forgive himself of what he had done making him feel unworthy of Kitty's affections. As if knowing that he was thinking about her, Kitty slowly opened her eyes and smiled sleepily at her blue furred crush.

"Guh-ten morgen" she greeted him mispronouncing the German phrase slightly causing a small grin to appear on Kurt's features.

"That's 'goo-ten morgen'" He told her causing Kitty's smile to take on a hint of embarrassment. "But it's getting better, I'll say that"

Kitty's smile widened at the compliment and hugged him tighter before feeling him gently pry out of her grasp.

"Kurt" She called out as she saw him head towards the door to his room evidently about to grab a shower.

Kurt stopped with the handle in his grasp and turned to look at her curiously.

"Take all the time you need" She said smiling brightly. "I'll be here for you when you're ready"

"You really shouldn't" Kurt sadly muttered barely audible before managing a smile of his own. "But danke all the same, Katzchen"

It was only after Kurt had left the room did the smile fall from Kitty's face. Kitty had first started to have romantic feelings for Kurt during her first mission when she witnessed Kurt talking to Rogue in an attempt to keep her now friend and roommate preoccupied until the Professor reached them. Since then, kitty had been battling with herself trying to get over her fear of being in a relationship with someone due to past experiences. The most recent being one Lance Alvers who was now part of their enemy team Brotherhood of Mutants.

After a misinterpretation on an invite with the rest of the group that caused them to realise their feelings for each other, Kurt suggested that they wait and see what would happen to them in the future: translating into he would wait for her to overcome her fear before getting together as a couple. Now it seemed that the tables had turned and it was now Kitty to wait for Kurt to come to grips and forgive himself for what he had done. Not something she completely understood but could see why he was doing it.

She was not going to give up. Kurt had probably been willing to wait for eternity for her so the least she could do was the very same if not more. Right now though, she focused on the more immediate problems: getting something healthy in her stomach before Mr Logan came and dragged them all into the DR for a quick morning session before letting them do whatever they pleased for the rest of the day. They were still kids after all.

***#***

_How's that for an appetiser? I won't be updating this until I at least get one of my current MC fics finished (maybe I should put up a poll asking which one I should finish first)_

_As always review if possible & until next time_

_Watch this space & peace out!_


	2. Bad Morning

_Disclaimer is on chapter one_

_***#***_

While he might be a touch impatient at the moment, Stefan was nervous occasionally glancing around at the four walls surrounding him and even once or twice glancing behind him to the only way in or out of the room.

He was in no way claustrophobic but, being here of all places felt worse than having been sent to the Principal's office along with his brother that one time after said sibling dragged him to his favourite breakfast shop for several gut-bombs and making them two hours late for classes. If he remained here any longer, the mutant teen reckoned this would be worse than even-

"Sorry for the delay, Stefan" Xavier apologised as he rolled through the doorway and into his office where his pupil had been waiting the past ten minutes.

"No worries, Herr Professor" Stefan muttered wanting this to be over and done with quickly and therefore leave the office and put this morning's fiasco behind him.

_*2 Hours Earlier*_

"Pick up the pace, you lot!" Logan growled into the microphone as he watched the team go through one of the latest assault courses he had devised to train them up but was thoroughly unimpressed by their current performance.

Even Summers and Copycat were falling short of the mark and those two were usually the ones who either lasted the longest or finished ahead of everyone else if not the only ones to cross the finish line. Even if today _is_ a Saturday, they were all falling too short of the mark for them to be having an off day- and _X-men_ do not have off days for their line of work if he had anything to say about it.

"End program!" Logan snarled at the control panel before leaving figuring it best to grill them face to face than over the loudspeaker.

By the time he had reached the floor of the reset Danger Room, he was in such a foul state that he was almost tempted to keep them locked in and have the Room go at them with full heavy duty arsenal the way he saw them doubled over or sprawled on the ground as they recovered from the mere warm up routine he had given them.

""Normally, after putting you brats through Hell for half a year, most people would assume that you got better. So why you're all suddenly going in the opposite direction?" He growled sweeping his gaze over them all one at a time as if daring them to actually reply.

"Well, it's the weekend for one" Rogue huffed in annoyance.

"Yeah, man! We should be chillin by the pool or still sleeping instead of doing this!" Evan spoke up.

"And you think people like Magneto will just mosey on back to whatever rock they crawled out from and call off their plans until Monday?" Logan retorted. "Mutants are popin up more than ever these days and I doubt they're gonna just sit nice and quietly for us after givin the Professor a call"

"Dude! We're _kids_ not some sort of group of unique bounty hunters or something" Evan threw back before finally losing his courage as Logan unsheathed his claws.

"I think, what Evan is trying to say is that you've been putting us through so much these past few weeks, we're forgetting about the lives we do lead outside of the mansion" Jean jumped in trying to pacify the situation before it got out of hand.

"Could've fooled me" Logan growled recalling how childish the boys had been acting over some game on the television and the girls talking about everything but the weather as they holed up in the library.

Instead of grilling them further, Logan retracted his claws, catching a sigh of relief from one or two of them as the returned to somewhere inside his forearms, and cracked his knuckles in an intimidating way.

"Alright then, _kids_. Seeing as you want to play, there's the door" He told them jerking a thumb over his shoulder to the large double doors to the Danger Room.

Not even pausing to think over what their trainer just said Evan and Kurt glanced at one another before bolting for the exit not realising that Logan had placed himself between them and the door for a reason. In the time it took to blink, the two teens found themselves flung back into the room sliding across the floor to the feet of their teammates.

"You just have to try and get by me first. And for those of you who think you can leave using your powers…" Pressing a button on his belt, Logan activated another of the Danger Rooms settings.

As the shrill noise suddenly permitted the area, both Kurt and Jean clasped hands their ears attempting to block out the high frequency that was easily preventing them from focusing on their powers. Not only was it now noisy, but the floor closest to the wall sank away to reveal a moat of murky water no one knew how deep it went nor how far it ran below eyesight- needless to say, Kitty's plan of phasing out now seemed like a bad idea.

"Well?" Logan called out over the noise seemingly unaffected by it. "What's it gonna be, kids?"

Hoping to coax them into at least working as a team, Logan was sorely disappointed by the results. In the span of five minutes, he had tossed each of them onto their respective asses at least once and even the few attempts at teamwork were feeble at best. If he did not know any better, he reckoned their victory against Magneto last month had gone to their heads.

Picking himself up after Logan had tossed him away like some rag doll, Stefan gritted his teeth as he stared at the man. He was tired, his eyes were still sore from this morning and he was really not in the mood for this.

"So, you finally going to unleash your arsenal, Copycat?" Logan asked of Stefan noticing the look the teen was sporting as he stood up. "You reckon three tries will be enough?"

"_Even one _'use' _is too valuable to waste on the likes of you!"_ Stefan snapped as his sight went red.

_***#***_

Jerking his head backwards, Stefan nearly sent himself toppling off his chair when he pulled away from Professor Xavier who was clutching his own head as if a sudden migraine had struck him.

"Was that…_really_ my voice?" Stefan groaned his vision slightly blurry and out of focus.

All he knew was that, after Logan's words, he saw nothing but red before feeling an excruciating pain behind his eyes that was all too similar to how he felt after a nightmare before collapsing. When he came too, he found himself flat on his back with the rest of the team staring down at him in concern sans one trainer who he had, apparently optics blasted right out the door and embedded him in the wall across the hall.

"I honestly cannot say" Xavier admitted his brow crinkled as he thought over what he had seen. "Tell me, Stefan, has this ever happened to you before?"

"Believe me when I say this is a first for me too, Professor" The teen answered racking a hand through his hair. "My eyes have been hurting for a while now but, other than nightmares for just over a week, this has never happened even when I first got my powers"

"I see…" Xavier mused but unable to come up with any logical explanation behind what went on in the Danger Room. "In any case, I would like you to refrain from using your power for a while. At least until some light can be shed on things"

Stefan merely nodded too engrossed now in his own thoughts that Xavier had had no intention of intruding on. As he watched the teen leave his office, he could not help but wonder if, just like humans as a species, mutant powers could also evolve over time.

_***#***_

_[What the hell is going on with me?]_ Stefan swore in his native tongue once the doors were firmly shut behind him. _[Am I losing it or something?]_

Aimlessly walking through the mansion, Stefan looked back once more over this morning's troubles. He had meant to activate his 'Evil-eye' as his grandmother had called it and use the power of magnetism or telekinesis to move Logan out of the way not try and get him removed permanently from the face of the Earth. Were it not for the guy's healing factor…

_[Stop thinking like that!]_ Stefan muttered to himself stopping in front of a wall mounted mirror and staring into his own eyes as if trying to find himself. _[It must be because it's been in use more since coming to the Land of Liberty. Yeah… That's probably it…]_

"Stefan?"

Blinking several times, Stefan pried his field of vision from the mirror in the direction of the voice to find Jean walking towards him most likely out of concern considering what had been happening to him lately.

"You alright there?" She asked tenderly.

"Just wondering if powers require overhauls and tune-ups like cars" Stefan shrugged trying to make it seem like nothing was wrong.

"Well, if you need to talk to someone about it, you know where I am" Jean offered causing Stefan to quirk an eyebrow at her. "Uh- well- It's just that, I'm kind of in the same boat as you right now and thought that, seeing as we're both having troubles with our powers-"

"It's happening to you too?" Stefan cut over Jean before she started talking a mile a minute.

Jean nodded not really wanting to tell him the specifics about how her power suddenly seems to 'turn on' at random times while at school or in the mansion feeling like multiple radio shows suddenly blared out loud inside her head.

"I gotta say that's a relief" Stefan admitted feeling slightly better knowing that he was not stuck in the boat alone. "For a moment there, I thought you were trying to flirt with me"

Turning on his heel, Stefan quickly bolted back the way he came before a spluttering Jean could collect herself and throw who knows what at him in retaliation.

_***#***_

_There, another update for another fic done mainly to shut up Guest who has decided to pester me about this fic in every story I have made since the first chapter to this story._

_Review if possible & be sure to be logged on if you're gonna ask me a question I might want to answer._

_Peace out!_


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